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Today, take a minute to write!

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When I was at school we used to have to bring in books to read to helpers.

The person that I used to have to read to was my best friend's mum. She tells a story about when I was around 6 years old, all of the other children were bringing in simple, boring books with 'Look' written on every page.

I, on the other hand trundled in with a copy of 'The Red Pony' by John Steinbeck. Suffice to say, I've always been a book nerd.

The first book I remember reading was called Mr. Pine's Mixed Up Signs. It was a story about a sign maker who lost his glasses, but he had to get his signs out around the city so he hung them without his glasses and made a big mess, hanging signs in all the wrong places. For some reason this just cracked me up (probably because I was five) and I read it over and over again because it was so funny. It's the classic approach to getting kids to read - tell a ridiculous story.

I loved Matilda by Roald Dahl as a child. It was my favorite book growing up. I loved it because it made me feel good and independent and I could really identify with the main character Matilda and what she went through. I really loved that book! I even had a picture of it taken with me for my local library's annual fundraiser!

Somehow I came to believe that one must read every word of a book. At about 10 I found I just did not want to finish Pollyanna and I didn't finish it. I felt guilty for many years, about 40 I think, until I realized some books don't have to be finished and we should not feel guilty for recognizing the ones that waste our time.

As a kid I loved reading the Babysitter's Club and it made me want to start my own (I even got so far as to make my own flyers typed out on a typewriter)...

But my mother thought I should read something more challenging so in third or forth grade she told me I should read the Bible from because our church was giving away an award to any kid who read the King James version all the way through.

I started with Genesis, got bored and decided to skip to the 'good' part and read Revelation...that's a lot for a kid with an imagination to handle...

I was six. It was library day. For most of us it meant free time. Something stirred in me to pick up a book. It was grandly illustrated. I vividly remember my friends warning me not to read it. The book, that sounded like a taboo, had nude pictures or maybe just pictures, I guess. I however, do not remember a word or an image from it. All I remember is it was a rectangular book with lots of pictures that I read more than 20 pages of and was very happy about.